The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has delayed a safety rule aimed at ensuring that pesticides (which are linked to human health problems) are safely applied by adult agricultural workers. This, just days after 50 farm workers in California were sickened by pesticide poisoning. [1]
Chlorpyrifos is a pesticide that has the potential to harm both children and farm workers, but the EPA – the same agency that drew these conclusions – says it will not ban the chemical.
On March 26, 2017, EPA chief Scott Pruitt rejected his agency’s own chemical safety experts who, under Barack Obama, had recommended that chlorpyrifos – one of the nation’s most widely used insecticides – be permanently banned from agricultural use nationwide because of the danger it poses to farm workers. [1]
On November 19, the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District board voted to approve a trial of genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes designed to fight the Zika virus in the Keys.
Key West Source: Tampa Bay Times
The district has been working with British biotech company Oxitec for the last 5 years to get federal approval for a trial release of the genetically engineered male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes into the wild. When they mate with female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, their offspring die.
Voters in Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, and Wells Water District in Maine; Healdsburg, California (Sonoma County); and Greenville, Texas went to the polls on November 8 to voice their views on whether to ban fluoride in their drinking water.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has rejected claims filed by 2 families in Boise, Idaho, who alleged the USDA’s pesticide treatment contaminated their crops and poisoned a cattle herd.
In a letter to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter called for a quick resolution to the tort claim filed by the 2 families. Otter defended the families, telling Sec. Thomas Vilsack that neither family was at fault for the damages and debts they have racked up by allowing the USDA to treat the fields.
Otter wrote:
